The Digital Fix: Music

Singles of the Week

A rare occasion where the singles round up doesn't contain a single shocker, yet is there anything worth shouting about either?

Courteeners'Van Der Graaff', the second track to be taken from Courteeners' latest album ANNA, is an unashamed burst of stadium sing-along, lighters in the air, rock. Unsubtle, but effective all the same.

Music news round-up: Sunday 5 MayGrammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Patty Griffin returns to the UK this month for the launch of her first album of new songs in six years, American Kid. The first single from the album will be 'Ohio':

She plays Rough Trade East on Thursday 16th May at 7pm with Robert Plant.Jake Bugg will be joining headliners, Of Monsters and Men, at Bushmills Live - the world’s only indie music festival in an Irish Whiskey distillery.Also added to the bill for the event - which takes place on 19th and 20th June in the grounds of the historic Old Bushmills Distillery - are Sons and Lovers, Willy Mason, Bear’s Den, Iain Archer and Foy Vance.Glasgow based Sparrow and the Workshop release their third album, Murderopolis on 27th May through independent label Song via Toad Records.They play: 8th May: Glasgow, Mono
9th May: Edinburgh, Caves
24th June: London, LexingtonSurfer Blood have announced that they will play a headline show at Electrowerkz in London on 17th June. All tickets for the previously postponed 17th April date are being honoured. They also play Reading Festival on Friday 23rd August with their slot at Leeds on Saturday 24th.

Electro-punk MC Itch will be at this year’s Great Escape Festival. Performing two shows on Saturday 18th May, this will be Itch’s first solo outing at the festival since the split of his former band The King Blues.Itch’s first show will be at Above Audio 2.15pm, on a bill that also includes John Newman. Later that day, he will perform at The Brighton Museum at 9pm for a special The Great Escape: Unplugged showcase. This show all ages and free to the public – not just festival ticket holders. Itch will drop his debut album later this year through Red Bull Records.Ahead of the release of new album Nature Nurture, Dinosaur Pile-Up have announced that their headline tour has been rescheduled to commence in July –“We're so sorry to be announcing this at such late notice - believe us we would have put it out there a month ago had we known. The headline tour starting tomorrow IS BEING POSTPONED UNTIL JULY. This is due to the album release date being moved back until late June, therefore this tour needs to do the same. BUT DON'T WORRY - ALL tickets will still be valid for the shows, and the exact dates will be announced soon. We're even gonna add some more venues to the run. We KNOW this is a bummer, and a lot of you were REALLY excited about coming down - we feel EXACTLY the same. But we promise this will make for a better tour and a better album release. See you in July. Much Love, Stay Rad. DPU X”The news comes hot on the heels of the release of the band’s new music video for single ‘Derail’ which includes a star appearance from none other than Diana Vickers.

MAY
Sat 4 UK, Live At Leeds Fest
Thur 16 UK, Brighton Great Escape Festival - The HopeJULY – headline tour
Tues 2 UK, Nottingham Bodega Social Club
Wed 3 UK, Newcastle Think Tank
Thurs 4 UK, Dundee Beat Generator
Fri 5 UK, Aberdeen Tunnels
Sun 7 UK, Glasgow King Tuts *New show
Mon 8 UK, Hull Fruit
Tue 9 UK, York Duchess
Wed 10 UK, Leeds Brudenell Social Club *New show
Fri 12 UK, Manchester Ruby Lounge *New show
Sat 13 UK, Liverpool Shipping Forecast
Sun 14 UK, Cardiff Buffalo Bar *New show
Mon 15 UK, Birmingham Flapper
Wed 17 UK, London Cargo
Thu 18 UK, Southampton Joiners
Fri 19 UK, Bristol Louisiana *New show
Sat 20 UK, Brighton HopeCanadian rock ‘n’ roll renegades Fist City are about to hit the UK in advance of their album It’s 1983, Grow Up on July 8th.May 7th - The Banshee - Edinburgh
May 8th - Bloc Bar - Glasgow
May 10th - Santiagos - Leeds - w/ Nothington
May 11th - The Piper - Hull w/ Nothington
May 14th - House Show - Manchester - w/ The Hipshakes
May 15th - Shackwell Arms - London - w/ Cousins -
May 16th - Brighton - Great Escape Festival - 7.45pm @ The Hope
May 18th - Brighton - Great Escape Festival – 3.15pm @ Blind TigerCountry and pop superstar Kenny Rogers comes to the UK for three arena dates this summer, taking in performances in at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff on 29th June, the LG Arena in Birmingham on 1st July and finally the 02 Apollo in Manchester on 2nd July.Trigger Effect’s new album What’s Left To Eliminate? will be their first to be released in the UK. It will be released on May 27th through UK indie label Dry Heave, with the band also hitting these shores in June for a week of live dates.June 8 : Kingston, England – Fighting Cocks
June 9 : Exeter, England – Cavern
June 10 : Canterbury, England - Beercart Arms
June 11 : Glasgow, Scotland – Bar Bloc
June 12 : London, England – Old Blue Last
June 13 : Southampton, England – Joiners
June 14 : Milton Keynes, England – Crauford Arms
June 15 : Oxford, England – WheatsheafScholars will be playing a run of headline dates from the end of May with Coastline in support. On top of this, they’ll be playing various support slots for the likes of Middle Class Rut and Lit and they’ve also been announced on Y-Not and Underground festivals.28.05 London Borderline with Middle Class Rut / The Bots #
31.05 Harlow, Square *
01.06 Camden rocks, The Hanley #
02.06 Manchester, Retro Bar *
03.06 Dundee, Beat Generator *
04.06 Glasgow, Venue Classic Grand *
05.06 Hereford, The Victory *
06.06 Leicester, Soundhouse *
07.06 Corby, Zombie Hut *
08.06 Bournemouth, The Anvil *
09.06 Plymouth, White Rabbit *
10.06 Yeovil, The Quicksilver Mail *
11.06 Wolverhampton, Slade Rooms #
12.06 Guildford, The Star Inn *
13.06 Camden, Koko # - supporting Lit
14.06 Basingstoke, Sanctuary *
15.06 Hastings, The Brass Monkey *
16.06 Winchester, Railway Inn *
26.07 Bournemouth Burn Out Festival #
04.08 Derbyshire Y-Not Festival #
29.09 Gloucester Underground festival #
* Scholars & Coastline
# Scholars onlyRevolution Harmony, the brainchild of British music lecturer/journalist Ray Holroyd, has announced the July 18th release of its debut All-Star charity single, 'We Are.' The song features vocals from Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Ihsahn (Emperor), as well as guitar solos by Devin Townsend.Vancouver-based non-profit record label Revolution Harmony was launched in 2011 by Holroyd. The label acts as a two-way channel, providing an outlet for artists to release their music worldwide and earn money from it, and providing an inlet for the label profits from that music to be redirected to charities that "restore harmony between all people, animals and the environment."Kscope reaches its 5th anniversary this year and to celebrate the label are hosting two special evenings at The Garage in London. There will be four bands from the label's roster playing on each night and the first to be announced are Amplifier, on Wednesday July 24th, followed by Anathema on Thursday 25th. The initial batch of tickets for the gigs goes on sale now. There will also a limited number of two-day tickets available. The remaining acts will be announced over the next few weeks. To ensure that fans of all acts who are playing get the chance to attend the label shall be staggering the release of tickets to coincide with the artist announcements.Temples have announced details of the release of a new single, 'Colours To Life', which will be released through Heavenly Recordings on Monday June 24th 2013. Produced by the band & mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer and available as a 10" and download, it features the B-side 'Ankh'. As well as numerous festival appearances throughout the summer, the band are currently on tour with The Vaccines, with a number of headline dates to follow in May and June.05/05 Leeds, Millennium Square (with The Vaccines)
06/05 Llandudno, Cymru Centre (with The Vaccines)
17/05 Brighton, The Great Escape
18/05 Glasgow, Stag & Dagger
19/06 Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
20/06 London, Boston Arms
21/06 Manchester, Deaf Institute
06/07 London, Hyde Park (with Rolling Stones)

Noah And The WhaleOne of the poppiest slices from Noah And The Whale's new album Heart Of Nowhere, 'There Will Come A Time' sees them do what they do best: subtly uplifting folk pop that you'll find yourself humming long after the final note has been struck. Video gives a taster of Charlie Fink's new short film too as a bonus.

On The Office Stereo: May 2013Our crack team of staffers pick out the (current) soundtrack to their lives.

San CiscoEarly- to mid-80s pop vibe from San Cisco this time around. Inoffensive to the point of saccharine, you would be better digging out your Mum's Aztec Camera albums.

Say Lou LouLow key, dreamy electro pop from the Australian/Swedish twins. It's nice, but doesn't scream 'This is the single!' like it should.

Young RivalDefinitely the winner of 'Video of the Week', Canadian trio Young Rival do Weezer-esque power pop reasonably effectively in support.

Single of the Week

Beware Of DarknessSongs like this are right up my alley. The Zeppelin style riffs, fast tempo, crunchy guitars, pounding drums, long hair, what's not to like I ask you.

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